I rented 3 japanese movies today: Returner, Ichi The Killer, and The Master Swordsman.
Returner was the best of the three.Think of it as a cross between ID4 and Terminator.While the movie is terribly predictable, it does sport a decent story, with great special effects. The acting is pretty decent but sometimes gets kinda bland. If your looking for a decent japanese sci-fi movie I highly recommend this movie.
Ichi the killer I have already heard about on this board so I decided to check it out.Man was this movie f**ked up. Its not the bloodiest movie I've ever seen but is certinatly the one of the most sadistic. The movie deals heavly with some very twisted sadists doing some really twisted things to them selves and others.If your not the kind of person that handles pain easly I do not recomend this movie for you. For the most part its pretty good though, despite the fact that I have no idea what was going on in the last 10 minutes of the film.
The master swordsman was easly the worst. I rented it because the description said that it had been done by the same guys who made Iron Monkey so I thought it would be at least a decent flick.Wrong.
This movie sucked. Its basiclly nothing more than a 200 min bad japanese soap opera.Some of the fight scenes actually looked cornier than those in Hercules. Avoid this movie like the plaugue.
Dude, glad you saw Ichi. I can't help but keep recommending this film. The last ten minutes are fantastic! Kakihara still rules!
As for Returner, I plan on renting it soon. Looks great.
Ska - how much is the unrated version of Versus going for? and what else is in it that isn't in the r-rated version (besides the eye-gouging I have already heard about?
wycked, no question, very sadistic film. Amazing what Kakihara does to regain his honor - "cutting off the organ that gives him the most pleasure". NASTY!
>Returner was the best of the three.
I've seen ads for this and I just have to ask; What does the passenger jet transform into? In the commercial it shows it hovering and then coming apart like a transformer.
JohnL wrote:
> >Returner was the best of the three.
>
> I've seen ads for this and I just have to ask; What does the
> passenger jet transform into? In the commercial it shows it
> hovering and then coming apart like a transformer.
It turns into a cool big flying thingy.If you want a better explanation watch the movie.
Neon Noodle wrote
wycked, no question, very sadistic film. Amazing what Kakihara does to regain his honor - "cutting off the organ that gives him the most pleasure". NASTY!
Man I was actually relieved when he cut off what he did, I was thinking he was going to cut off something alot worse.
Neon,
You can usually find a copy of Versus unrated on Ebay for around 15-20 bucks or so. Keep in mind that most copies you will find on Ebay will only have the Japanese soundtrack and no dubbing (as does the TokyoShock version). The TokyoShock DVD cut usually runs for about 20 bucks for unrated as well, but the quality isn't as good as one you would find of Ebay.
Check out Hkflix.com for some more info on that.
As for Ichi the Killer, the only copy of that you can find is the TokyoShock versions. There are copies listed on Ebay for decent prices, but most are Region 4.
>It turns into a cool big flying thingy.If you want a better explanation watch the
>movie.
Ok, thanks. I was kind of hoping it turned into a giant robot.
Just rented Returner on my lunch break along with Matchstick Men.
I'll probably watch Returner tomorrow night and post a review on Thursday.
well, I just ordered the special edition 2 disc set of Versus - here's hopin it'll be awesome.....Ska, do you have the 2 disc edition? that's the one I found online.
Neon,
Nope, mine is just a standard one disc. However, it is overflowing with extras (I.E. Commentaries, trailers, etc) but of course the commentary is in Japanese so it does me no good.
______________________________________
I finally watched Returner last night and was kinda disappointed. The film started off extremely strong, with one of the opening action scenes being the best I've seen in quite some time. Overall though, the film is a rehash of what has been done before. Termintator, Independence Day, The Matrix, etc.
The bullettime in this film was also kind of aggravating. Sure it looked pretty cool, but I'm so sick of it! Stop it! Ack! The film also has a bad problem with being fairly hamfisted. It points out the most obvious things. There is actually one scene where a man has a small bomb strapped to his neck. The film freezes for a moment and the bomb is circled with an arrow leading to it, with the word "LOOK!" hovering above.
Argh.
All in all, it was a decent rental, but not anything I'll be buying.
Ska - I just got the 2 disc set (gotta love that free shipping) and I noticed something on the 2 disc edition - when you put the subtitles on, it translates the director's commentary into english!
Have you tried this on your version?
A couple things on the Returner. One is, there is one really cool scene in which giant robots take over Japan. It looked really cool.The backgrounds are just plain awesome. The other thing is the movie shamelessly borrows from other films like E.T. , The Terminator, Leon the Profesional, The Matrix, M.I.B. and even a little of Star Wars episode 2
Whoa!
Thanks for the info Neon! I was actually planning on watching Versus again tonight! I'll check it out!
did it work?
With a main character like this, Versus at least deserves a rental....
(http://www.cathuria.com/bcd/Versus.jpg)
Neon,
Nope, the commentary didn't come through in subtitles. I did buy the DVD from Ebay though, so I doubt it's actually a legal copy; which is probably the reason why the commentary only comes through in Japanese.
Right on about the main character being bad ass, but so is one of the main Yakuza guys. The main one in the beginning, in the green shirt is by far one of the coolest bad guys of all time. But, did you happen to notice anything sexual between him and the guy with glasses? Didn't notice it the first time around but really started to pick up on something the second time around.
Yet another reason to watch movies, another interpretation. Looks like this weekend will warrant another viewing